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Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
N.S.Bolan{at}massey.ac.nz
Edited by B.L. Turner, E. Frossard, and D.S. Baldwin, CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8DE, UK. 2004. 432 p. $140.00. ISBN 0 85199 822 4.
This book is the outcome of the Organic Phosphorus Workshop held during July 2003 in Ascona, Switzerland, that brought together an international group of scientists working on the diverse aspects of organic phosphorus (P) in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Organic P is ubiquitous in the terrestrial and aquatic environments and constitutes a significant proportion of total P, yet the role of organic P in ecosystem functioning is still poorly understood.
Our understanding of reactions and mechanisms regulating inorganic P in environmental process is relatively strong, supported by many decades of research and a voluminous amount of publications. However, despite some recent advances in the understanding of the role of organic P in the environment there has been no comprehensive publication on this vital topic. This book contains comprehensive reviews of organic P characterization and transformations in terrestrial and aquatic environments, and is a timely publication.
The book consists of 17 chapters written by some of the leading international scientists. Each chapter gives a thorough and in-depth analysis of the research undertaken on organic P in terrestrial and aquatic environments and is backed up by clear illustrations and a critical note on the future directions of research. These chapters are organized into three main sections.
Section 1 (three chapters) describes analytical techniques used to characterize organic P in environmental samples. The investigation of organic P in the environment has been hampered by the lack of suitable techniques for detecting diverse ranges of chemical compounds present in soil, water, and sediment samples. The chapters cover the state-of-the-art procedures involving chromatographic separation, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and mass spectroscopy to measure organic P, and to isolate, quantify, speciate, and characterize individual organic P compounds at the molecular level in soil and natural waters.
Section 2 (seven chapters) address processes that control organic P behavior in terrestrial and aquatic environments. The chapters in this section cover the role of hydrolytic and photolytic reactions in the abiotic degradation of natural and synthetic organic P compounds; the enzymatic hydrolysis of organic P with reference to classical inorganic and organic compartmental analysis of P compounds in ecosystems; abiotic stabilization in relation to adsorption to soil minerals, complexation reactions, and precipitation with polyvalent cations and incorporation of organic P into humic substances; microbial turnover of organic P in aquatic systems and ecological aspects of phosphatase activity in relation to P utilization by phototrophs; and utilization of organic P by higher plants, in particular the importance of rhizosphere phosphatase activity and its role in hydrolyzing organic P in soil.
Section 3 (seven chapters) integrates the abiotic and biotic transformation processes of organic P at an ecosystem level. The chapters in this section aim to synthesize information on the dynamics of organic P in tropical agroecosystems, with special emphasis on the effects of management practices on soil organic P dynamics; organic P transfer from the terrestrial to aquatic environment including the magnitude, forms, and mechanisms of release from soil, and transport of organic P from soils to water courses and its interactions with other nutrient cycles; modeling P, C, and N dynamics using the CENTURY ecosystem model to simulate plant production and nutrient dynamics in tropical forests; and modeling organic P transformation in aquatic systems using mechanistic models, with a view to building a more universal P model applicable to a variety of aquatic systems.
The final chapter summarizes the importance of organic P in the environment and identifies four key areas for future research directions that include simple, robust techniques for analyzing and quantifying organic P in environmental samples; improved knowledge of the mechanisms and rates of organic P transformations enabling better prediction of the consequences of management interventions on organic P dynamics; development of scaling rules to transfer knowledge from one temporal and spatial scale for application at larger scales; and mechanisms of bioaccessibility of organic P by microorganisms and higher plants.
The appendix provides a list of chemical formulas, structures, and functional groups of some of the most common organic P compounds found in the environment including complex inorganic phosphates (condensed phosphates) and synthetic organic phosphates used in assays of phosphatase activity.
The book is a very valuable resource material for scientists, teachers, and students with an interest in nutrient dynamics in all fields of environmental science, including chemistry, ecology, microbiology, soil science, and limnology.
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